Bitter Heaven

Bitter Heaven is a difficult platformer, "Megaman", and Touhou bullet game. The trailer and screenshots will let you know if it is something that would or would not interest you, or as many people say "Whats written on the tin". One note of my review is that I did have something come up and left my computer. Current time is closer to around an hour. The good: The boss battle I have done at the time of review was fun. I wish there was more emphasis on this over the day to mapping. The game has metroidvania style exploration with teleport and checkpoint mechanics. Generally, dying is something that does happen and should be avoided but it does not feel terribly punishing. After the boss I beat, I got a weapon modification that did not require any ammunition and is very easy to enable on the fly. Refillable health items are fairly easy to get and I did not feel I ever was in a situation that I could not afford them. In the city, there is a coffee shop that sells them for currency you find in chests or from each defeated enemy. For movement, I love how easily the megaman slide is accomplished, and with the addition of a double jump some platforming sequences "feel good". I enjoyed the outlandish storyline, but this is a highly subjective personal experience. The player has a very forgiving invulnrability timer, something along the lines of 2.5 seconds. When you take damage, you have 2.5 seconds to abuse the fact you can no longer be injured. Spikes do not instantly kill you and are colored differently to the environment. The ok: The actual platforming is just ok. The game controls better then how I would have believed it would with jump sequences. I never felt robbed when I knew I had to use a small jump but held the jump too long, that was my fault. It feels like a good nintendo game, where you could lean into that and say it is emulating that style with the art and play mechanics, but I think that is kind of a cop out answer. If you are looking for tight controls ala super meat boy, this will frustrate you. Additionally, as I mentioned previously, I think there is far more emphesis on exploration over the boss fights. Imagine if Cuphead was actually inversed, with the run and gun levels being numerous and required to get to the interesting parts. This game does have an upgrade system for damage and health, and they can be purchased up to a limit and the rest need to be found. Although finding or buying them is not a big issue, there are some areas of the game where I am convinced that not having them will get you killed. This category will depend on your view of upgrades in general, but I would realistically proclaim you could not bet this game without getting at least half of the upgrades. The bad: The entire introduction sequence serves very little purpose. You walk around the city as the story unfolds like a RPG, with cast giving lines based around locations, and you moving between locations. My issue is that it does not fundamentally teach you about the different available mechanics of the city while slowing down the beginning of gameplay. The creator is telling a story, but I think the entire sequence could have been a cut scene with the same information while reducing the time by 30-50%. Jank. Jank is where the player expects an interaction to occur does not. There is a section with a rising and falling ceiling that crushes the player. I have game footage of me dying with making contact with the surface as it is only 20% through its rising sequence. I have had enemies not take damage, shoot through walls where they previously could not, and other irregularities. This does not happen all the time, which can make it more frustrating when they do occur as it is hard to prepare for. The jank also does make the exploration more tedious. The water section is not incredibly long, unless there is more further on, but you do have a timer. I get it, our character has lungs, but this creates a time limit to navigate spikes and enemies to reach your next air supply and being under powered means you will not make it. Overall: You try to bring caffeine back to your city. For less then the price of a starbucks frappe or equivalent, you could get this game and have more. The game is fun, and the price point is solid. Would recommend to retro gamers.